The purpose of this study was to survey the prevalence rate of cognitive impairments and to identify the factors influencing cognitive impairment in the elderly in rural communities of Jeju Province..

590 elderly in 6 rural communities of Jeju Province were interviewed, using a questionnaire consisting of sociodemographic characteristics, health behavior, quality of life, and MMSE-K

Prevalence of cognitive impairment was 33.1% (39.1% of females, 16.76% of males). Prevalence of dementia was 12.4% (16.3% of females, 2.87% of males). Factors related to cognitive impairment were age, sex, education, standard of living, employment status, and subjective health state.

In community health care for the elderly, factors relating to cognitive impairment have to be considered. When planning community health care, priority should be given to the elderly; who need care but live alone; who lack social support; who have a low standard of living; who experience discomfort in the activities of daily living; who believe they are not in a good state of health; or whose life satisfaction is low.

This study was conducted to synthesis the results of research on relationships of cognitive impairment with multi-dimensional correlates of rheumatic disease through a systematic literature review and meta-analysis.

For the study purpose, 23 studies were selected through a systematic process of searching the literature.

The study results showed that among general characteristics, age and education were the variables having a significant relationship with cognitive impairment. Among health risk factors, obesity appeared to have a significant positive relationship with cognitive impairment. For past history, diabetes and hypertension were shown to have a significant positive relationship with cognitive impairment. It was noted also that aPL, one of the physiological factor, had significant association with cognitive impairment. None of the medication related factors had a significant relationship with cognitive impairment. Results showed that among disease related factors, disease activity had the highest relationship with cognitive impairment. Depression, among psychological factors, was the only variable having a significant relationship with cognitive impairment.

The findings indicate that the variables strongly impacting on cognitive impairment in rheumatic disease are depression and disease activity.